Grain-elevator



J. H. A. BRAHTZ.

GRAIN ELEVATOR. APPLICATION FILED AAUG. g2. 19I8.

Patented June 8, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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J. H. A. BRAHTZ.

GRAIN ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 191.8.

2 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

Fm 6' uvvswronf .Blfhis 'ATToRJrErf Patented Jun@ 8,1920.

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JoHN n. A. BRAHTZ, or sT. PAUL, MINNESOTA. I

GRAiN-ELEVATOB..

Specification of Letters Patent. Pafgnted June 8; 1920.`

Appiicat'ion sied August 22, Y191s. serial Ng. asocia.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN' a subject of the King of Denmark, who have declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States, residing atvSt. Paul, in the'county of Ramsey and'State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Grain-Elevator, of which the following is a specification. 1

My invention relates to grain elevators, and the main Objectis to provide a grain elevator so improved that the house or building of same will be a structure inexpensive to erect and yet of great strength and durability. `Another Objectis to so arrange' the rooms, bins and machinery in said building that convenience, speed and economy are attained thereby.

The` main yfeatures bywhich I secure these advantages consist of constructing the headhouse with a central open shaft in which the elevators and their connections aremounted, andarranging the bins in radial directions .from said shaft to the outer walls of the house;v yand other arrangements which will hereinafter be fully described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which l l vFigure' y1 is a substantially diametrical vertical sectionof my improved'grain elevator. i Fig. 2 is an enlarged central, vertical section of the uppermost distributer, 53 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4` is a section on vthe line 4-4 of Fig. 1. lFigv 5 is Fig. 4

modified and with some Yparts omitted. F ig.

'6 is a section on' the line 64-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig.l1. Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, the -main building or house ofV the elevator is preferably constructed of`re inforced concrete and is formed of a hollow uprightA shell or bodyv 8, acentral hollow @shaft 9 and intermediate floors 10, 11,- 12,

a hollow base 13, a main'roof 14, a shaft roof715 and a series of radiating walls 45, which 'are braced togther by strong beams 46, as will presently be more fully described. Above the roofs the'shellsS and 9' are preferably given and form of battlements,f16 and 17 respectively. Y

The house may be ofV square, heXagon, Octagon or any other form, but probably the cylindrical'form whichv v'I have shown isthe best. The base 13 is formed with a funnel-shaped annular pit which is divided II.l Al BRAHTZ, A

into two'dunip pits, 18, 18a, having inlets 19 controlled by shutters (not shown) and lead,- ing into the elevator shaft to elevators 20, 21 and 2Oc which are located therein. The base isalso formed with` a lateral Vextension V22 which constitutes a pit23 fork the usual scaleV 24,l upon which grain carsV 25 are weighed. In Fig. 4 is shown a car pulling device. consisting of a suitably driven cable drum 26 and a cable 27, the latter guided between two pulleys, 28 and 29, so as to pull a car in either direction on the` track rails 30. 31 is a shedv forear-s on the'track 30 and for other cars, 25a, on the track 30a.

From the car 25 the grain may be dumped through a grate 32 into the' dump pit 18?.; yThe base is further formed with a seriesof bins 33, the tops of which lare coveredk by grates 34 so as to 'allow grain or otherv stuff to pass downwardV into them lfrom portable feed mills, 35 and grain cleaners .36;y said bins having controlled inlets 33,a into the *elevator shaf f At the opposite side of the house from the ,car slied'31cis a wagon shed 37, for farmers to drive in their wagons, asf38, upon 'a dump scale 3,9, to be weighed and then their load of grain dumpeddown intol an extension 40 of the dump pit 18. In'the modified form' shown-in' Fig. 5 the wagon shed is dispensed .with and the dumpv scale 39is placed within themain head house, and the latter is provided with doors 41 `and 42Y for the wagons to pass through to and from the scale. In Fig. 4 43 and 44 designate the beams of the adjacent scales 24 and 39 respectively. l Y

rIhelinner shell or shaft 9 and the outer shell S are firmly connected .bya seriesof radial walls 45, which thus divide the annular space between theltwo vshells nto'anyv desired number of spaces. Said radial walls Y or partitions are connected together by strong beams 46, which'. support they inclined floors 47 of any desired number of bins are ranged above each other in annular sets or 'series about the elevatorV shaft., In the present lillustration'Ihave shown only three sets of bins, namely 478, 49 and.50' (see Figs. 1 and 3). In the bins 50the floors are-inclined towarda central aperture 51,'from whichgrain maybe delivered through chutes 52` Y to the various machines 35, 36 on the work floor 12. l f

By the elevator 20-20a--2Ob grain is hoisted and delivered vinto the upper distributer 53. The latter may be ofany suitable form, but in 2 is shown how it may consist of a hopperv 53 having a funnelshaped bottom with several inclined disf tributing tubes 54, into eithery of which the grainmay be admitted through an aperture 55 ina false bottom 56, which is fixed on a vertical .shaft or Vrod 57 having a handle 58 by which to turn it; said handle may be located on any of the floors59, 60, 61, 62 f of the elevator shaft. Said iioors are reached either by a man-lift G3 or ladder steps 64 (shown in Fig. 3).

of the latter compartment the spout 73 is Vments, as clearlyshown in Fig. 3. Y central compartment spout 72 `of distrib- From some of the tubes 54 the grain passes directly through apertures 65 ,into the bins 48, while from others of the tubes the grain passes through leader tubes 66 into the bins '49; and bins 50 are filled through yleader tubes 67 from a distributer 68, which is like the one shown in Fig. 2, except that it has only half as many outlet tubes. Said distributer 68 is supplied from the spout 69 and head 2lb of the elevator 21, 21a, whose main function is to transfer grain from one Vcar to another.

`The two distributers 70 and 71 are alike in that they each comprise three compart- The uter ZOisarranged to spout into the central compartment 'of distributer 71 below it,"and

provided with Va flexible extension 74 which may be directed to either one vof the maohines on the work floor 12, as indicated by the dotted lines 74 in' Fig. 1, or may be directed into the pit 18, or 18, through the grates 34. The other two compartments of v distributer 70 are provided one with a spout 75 forspouting grain into the car 25, and the other with aspout 76 for spouting into the car 25a.

Ofr the Ytwo'other spouts, 77 and 78, of

distributer 71 the spout 77 is directed to the car 25 and spout -78 'is leftin readiness to receive a flexible tube (not shown), which may be directed to the bins 33,` or pit 18, or any other place desired. From said lpit 18 elevator 20c (shown in Fig. 3) `may elei v.vate into distributer 53; said elevator is used alternately with the elevator 20a, especially if thelatter gets out of order. In Fig. V5 is shown how each floor in the elevator shaft is secured, like the floor 'upon joists 60". f e

79 are spouts from the ports 80 for spout- 'ing the grain into either of the Vcompartments of the distributer 70, and 81 are similar spouts leading from ports ,82 into either compartment ofthe Vdistributer 71.V Short lspouts similar to V81V are employed at the ports 19 and 33a in the base, but as such spouts are common they are not shown. All

A ports or passagesV for grain, wherever so re- ,quired are provided with suitable shut-off .means (not shown) operable from within the elevator shaft; and YsaidY shaftV pro-Y y vided with door openings 83 `and the building with doorsr83a onV the work floor and 84 on the top floor 10, 85, 86, 87 indicate windows, or doors, on the building.

readybeen fairly stated it may .simply be recapitulated as follows:

Receiving-Wagons loaded with grain are run upon the dump scalel 39 and after being weighed the grain is-dumped into the pit 18 andelevated by elevator 20-20a, or

elevator 20, into the distributer 53, from which'the operator by turning the handle 58 y All the bins v48 and about half of'ethose 49 are used for cleaned grain, all the binsv 50' and some .ofthose 49 are used` for uncleaned grain. v l

@leaning metY shipping-'Whengrain is Car loads of grain areweighed to be cleaned it is either takenfrom bins 50 or from bins 49 f through spouts-73-74 toV the cleaning machines on theV main floorr12, and after it is cleaned it is passed into-the bins 48,y or some of those 49, from lwhichl bins. allclean grain to be shipped isfspouted to the cars. YThe screenings'V from the cleaning process are passed down through lthe grates 34 into some of the bins A33, while in the others of said bins maybe stored Vground feed from the feed mill. are to be shipped they are elevated into some of the ,bins 49, and from there spouted into a car or wagon, as the case maybe.

When .said stuffs v The stuff may also be spoutedfrom theoutlet 51 in Fig. l, afterallowing it to pass'.

into one ofthe bins 50; this is especially practical with the modified form shown in F ig. '5,.where the wagon path passes under one of the outlets 51.

Mixing-,To mix two ormore grades of Y grain the several grades are simply spouted together into one place.

Trmwfewz'ng.-To transferV grain* Vfrom one car to another, the grain is simplyV f i dumped into the pit '18, andl elevated/and allowed to runthrough a'prop'erly directed spout into the car that is to receive it. i

What I claim is: Y Y y 1. In a grain felevator, a funnel-shaped base terminating in a central pit, a hollow Vupright cylindrical body constituting an elevator shaft in saidpit and having side inlets Vfor graininto it near the bottom of the pit, and resting upon said base alarger hollow cylindrical body spaced concentrically about the elevator shaft, and a series 1.30

70 The operation of the elevator `having al v of radial partition walls connecting the said two bodies, whereby a series of compartments are formed between Y the said bodies and walls, andr floors dividing said compartments into several sets of upper and lower bins, and suitable roofing covering said bodies and the spaces within the same. v

2. The structure specified in claim l, and horizontal beams extending from one radial wall to the other to prevent bulging of said walls and support the floors of the bins.

3. Thefstructure specified in claim. 1, said base having also several inlet openings for dumping grain into it, andV elevators within the shaft for lifting the grain to any Vdesired height, and means for distributing thef lifted grain into any of the upper bins desired, and means for conducting grain from any of said upper bins into cars to be loadedf, and means for conducting grain from the upper bins to the lower bins above the main floor.

4. The structure specified in claim l, grain cleaning machinery on the ground floor, the latter floor having open grates for conveying stuffs from the cleaning machinery down through the floor, and portions of the basebelow said floor having bins below said grates; said bins having inlets into the elevator shaft, and means for closing said inlets when so desired.

. The structure specified in claim 4, feed I grinding machinery on the ground floor, bins forV the feed below'said floor and grates in the floors for the feed to pass through into the bins. Y

In testimony whereof I afIiX my signature.

J OHN H. A. BRAHTZ. 

